Why Paying Off Home Mortgages Is A Dumb Idea

By Jed Baguio

If you're planning to refinance your home or apply for a home mortgage. This could be one of the best tips you'll ever receive. If you're like the majority of the population which applies for home mortgage and chooses to put a large down payment, with the shortest term attainable and paying if off as soon as possible and thinking that they're doing it smart....well, I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but frankly it's not smart from a financial standpoint and such an idea could lead you to a big mistake.

Now I know that could be a shock to you, or make you feel uncomfortable and you should. This goes against the grain of what the majority of the population's concept of smart handling of home mortgages. Nevertheless, read on. I'll share with you the smart way of doing it.

The answer of how to do it smartly is exactly the opposite of what the majority's idea is of smart. Yep, you heard that right! This means the smart way is applying as little amount of cash as down payment (But just be sure that monthly home mortgage payments only consist of 30% of your total debt just to be safe), taking the longest term available and never pay off you're home mortgage! Now this strategy may not be applicable at all times. It depends, like most financial strategies, on economic climate. Specifically factors such as home mortgage rates and your ability to find a profitable investment vehicle. Yes, you need to start investing, we're talking about being financially smart and you can't achieve that if you don't or can't invest.

Lets start to elaborate why our strategy is more financially smart than the majority's "smart". To better illustrate I'll share with you a technique that's one of the pillars of wealth building. The technique I'm talking about is you borrow money, let's say $10,000 with an interest rate of 5% per year and you invest that money with an investment vehicle, lets say a mutual fund, with a 10% growth per year. Now let's do the math.

Borrowed Money 10,000

Total Earned 1,000 (10% of 10,000) Total Interest Paid 500 (5% of 10,000) ----------------------------- Total Earned $ 500

You could be sitting on a $500 net profit! This may not be large amount of money, but remember you invested nothing of your money giving you a Return On Investment of infinity.

How does this relate to your home mortgage? It's the same concept:

  • You pay as little amount of cash possible. This will increase your good debt. Put your "down payment to be" cash to an investment vehicle. Earning you 10% or whatever, then paying the home mortgage with their 5% or whatever. Giving you a profit. Important! The numbers may not be the same for you, but just be sure your earning percentage is higher than home mortgage percentage.
  • Choose the longest term. This lowers your monthly payment and on most occasions lowering your interest rate.
  • Don't pay it off as soon as possible. Don't join any programs that help you achieve that. Instead invest the extra cash to your favorite profitable investment vehicle. What would you rather have? paying 5% or earning 10%?

By following such steps you're actually borrowing money with 5% interest rate and earning with 10% interest rate giving you a profit of 5%! Important, this is not an exact calculation, in fact this an oversimplified example. This article also is not aimed as an 'How To', but rather to give you an idea of the things possible. I still advise that you sit down with a financial advisor to have solutions tailor-made to your situation.

For More Information:

For more home mortgage tips please visit my site www.home-mortgage-infocenter.com/.